Treasurer candidate Neil Riser at center of 2013 move to skip bid law in favor of Vantage Health purchase of state building

Before Louisiana voters trek to the polls in record low numbers on Oct. 14, there are a few things to consider about State Sen. Neil Riser, one of four candidates for the job of state treasurer, who, besides failing to help landowners being fenced out of their hunting lands, actually took campaign cash from a family member of the one erecting the fences.

Riser, author of that infamous bill amendment in the waning minutes of the 2014 legislative session that would have given State Police Superintendent Mike Edmonson an additional $100,000 or so per year in retirement benefits, has received some other interesting contributions as well.

The Louisiana Safety Association of Timbermen gave $2,500 to his senate re-election campaign in March 2014 and only 18 months later filed for BANKRUPTCY on behalf of its self-insurance worker’s compensation fund, leaving quite a few policy holders in the lurch.

Several nursing homes have contributed $2,500 each to his treasurer campaign. The nursing home industry, heavily reliant on state payments on the basis of bed occupancy, consistently benefited from favorable legislation by the Louisiana Legislature over the past decade that discouraged home care for the elderly.

But by far the biggest beneficiary of Riser’s legislative efforts is Vantage Health Plan, Inc., of Monroe which contributed $1,000 in 2015 to his Senate re-election campaign and another $1,000 to his treasurer campaign in March of this year.

Vantage has received six state contracts totaling nearly $242 million during the time Riser has served in the State Senate.

But it was Riser, along with Sens. Mike Walsworth of West Monroe, Rick Gallot of Ruston and Francis Thompson of Delhi, who pushed Senate Bill 216 of 2013 through the Legislature which cleared the way for the state to bypass the necessity of accepting bids for the purchase of the state-owned former Virginia Hotel and an adjoining building and parking lot. That was done expressly for the purpose of allowing Vantage to purchase the property for $881,000 despite there being a second buyer interested in purchasing the property from the state, most likely for a higher price.

By law, if a legislative act is passed, the state may legally skip the public bid process to accommodate a buyer. This was done even though a Monroe couple, who had earlier purchased the nearby Penn Hotel, wanted to buy the Virginia and convert it into a boutique hotel. Thanks to Riser and the other three legislators, they were never given the opportunity.

And Vantage, from all appearances, really got a bargain. The building was constructed in 1925 at a cost of $1.6 million and underwent extensive renovations in 1969 and again in 1984, according to documents provided LouisianaVoice, all of which should have made the property worth considerably more than $881,000. Read the entire story HERE.

Internal documents revealed concerns by Vantage that if the building were to be offered through regular channels (public bids), “developers using federal tax credits could outbid Vantage.”

Another document said, “VHP (Vantage Health Plan) fears that public bidding would allow a developer utilizing various incentive programs to pay an above-market price that VHP would find hard to match.”

Finally, there was a handwritten note which described a meeting on Nov. 1, 2012. Beside the notation that “Sen. Riser supports,” (emphasis added) there was this: “Problem is option of auction—if auction comes there is possibility of tax credits allowing a bidder to out-bid.”

All of which raises the obvious question of why did the Jindal administration turn its back on the potential of a higher sale price through bidding, especially considering the financial condition of the state during his entire term of office? We will probably never know the answer to that.

One might think that that kind of effort on its behalf would be worth more than a couple of thousand in campaign cash to Vantage. Vantage could have at least shown the same gratitude as the relative of the owner of 55,000 of fenced hunting property in Riser’s district.

When landowners in Winn, Caldwell and LaSalle parishes felt they were being fenced out of their hunting rights back in 2013, they did what any citizen might do: they went to their legislator for help–in this case, Riser, who paid the obligatory lip service of expressing concern for landowners Wyndel Gough, Gary Hatten, and Michael Gough but who, in the end, did nothing to assist them.

Instead, as so often happens today in politics, he sold out to the highest bidder.

One the $5,000 contributors to Riser’s campaign is none other than Hunter Farms & Timber, LLC, of Lafayette. An officer in that firm is Billy Busbice, Jr., of Jackson, Wyoming.

William Busbice Sr., one-time chairman of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, and Junior’s father, is a partner in Six C Rentals Limited Partnership of Youngsville, LA. Which purchased and proceeded to fence in some 55,000 acres of prime hunting land a few years back.

All of which only serves to underscore the long-held perception that we in Louisiana, by continually electing the type of public officials who are interested only in the next big deal, get the kind of representation we deserve.

12 Responses

Thank you for this information. Riser is the only candidate for State Treasurer that is campaigning locally. Getting good information on all of the candidates is not easy. This certainly helps narrow the field – however, no one candidate seems to be outstanding…Sad for Louisiana.

Edith, I believe Angele Davis is the most-qualified of the candidates, followed by John Schroder. I know and have worked with both of them, Davis much more and longer than Schroder.

What I think is the biggest shame is that, while having an independent treasurer as the state’s banker is very important, none of the candidates have stressed what the Treasurer actually does. I am assuming this is because it is pretty boring – but, again, it is very important and some of the things they do talk about go to character which is also important no matter what the job.

I was leaning Davis’ way until I saw her commercial where she says she supports virtually any thing that Donald Trump declares as gospel. She repeatedly emphasizes her loyalty to Trump and that’s all I need to hear to scratch her off the list. I know Riser is a nonstarter for me so in my case it’s Shroder by default. This declaration by Davis totally shocked and disappointed me but I cannot support anyone with that type on mindset.

Bob, I certainly understand, but I do not believe she supports all things Trump in her ads. She does support the national infrastructure plan and, as I told her, I certainly hope it happens for many reasons – And, as we should all remember, President Obama tried to get it done, but Congress made it clear it was DOA if he tried. Unless he succeeds in losing all the support of his own party in Congress, Trump at least has a remote chance of getting it through.

As in every election, there is no perfect candidate so making a choice becomes a balancing act. For the the balance still tilts to Davis.

Edith, I agree with Stephen. I, too, had some misgivings after I saw that ad. But, I believe she is still the best candidate. Having work in state government, I know what the treasurer can and cannot do. Believe me, she is the best qualified.

Thank you for your input, Stephen, regarding Angelle Davis. I have always agreed with you based on past posts and articles. i agree that there is no such thing as a perfect candidate and we need to reform our decaying infrastructure. I hope Trump can do it but I’m not holding my breath.
I only saw the Davis ad one time and I probably exaggerated, though I think not by much. I hope to see it again to try to discern fact from hype. I certainly understand why she invokes his name so much. This state was solid Trump and she’s no dummy. My takeaway from this ad was Trump, Trump, Trump and he is the antithesis of just about everything I support. I was absolutely shocked when I saw the ad and maybe my perception was skewed by her repetition of the Donald’s name. I will review her some more to see if perhaps her political beliefs differ from what this one ad portrays. I too would like to see the best person in the job as that is quite rare in Louisiana.

Excellent article, Tom. As if everything you have already pointed out is not reason enough to refrain from voting for Riser, consider this:

1. In Riser’s latest campaign finance filing for this race, he shows a $10,000 expenditure to New Orleans East Leadership PAC. Anyone is welcome to see the contribution at the bottom of a feature I’ve already done concerning the Times Picayune’s recent amnesia entailing the Edmonson Amendment:

2. It would really be nice if Riser would have put a stipulation on that expenditure to New Orleans Leadership PAC: “I’m making this campaign expenditure to your PAC; however, as a stipulation of that contribution, I insist you take the first $2,400 of that $10,000 and pay your outstanding ethics fines itemized at this link:

Anybody want to lay odds on whether Riser made such a stipulation as a condition of the $10,000 expenditure?

I do believe if a cooperative governor is in office (which Kennedy certainly never had in Jindal), a treasurer can sponsor measures via a legislator to accomplish worthwhile purposes. I believe Kennedy attempted such with an attempt to slash consulting contracts by 10%. Hence, I believe that a treasurer CAN play a role in implementing reform, and I am supporting John Schroder because of his adamant stand and pledge to do his best to fix the corruption-riddled process by which HB-2 (Louisiana’s Capital Outlay bill) is crafted and funded each year. Here’s a feature of him emphasizing that point to a very hostile questioner at Monday’s Baton Rouge Press Club Meeting:

Since there has been virtually no exposure to this race for any candidates, if anyone would like to watch the forum of the BRPC of Monday in its entirety featuring the three Republican candidates (the Democratic candidate, Derrick Edwards, did not attend nor was any explanation provided on why he opted not to participate), here’s the link at which anyone may do so:

If I had to bet, my money would be on the thousands of “under-the-table” dollars paid to Mr. Riser by Vantage, along with the rest of the crocked politicians running Louisiana Government. The Louisiana voters elect them, and the politicians laugh all the way to the bank !

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